viii, 102 pages : 23 cm

The Kensington Runestone is a 200-pound slab of greywacke covered in runes on its face and side which, if genuine, would suggest that Scandinavian explorers reached the middle of North America in the 14th century. It was found in 1898 in the largely rural township of Solem, Douglas County, Minnesota, and named after the nearest settlement, Kensington. Almost all Runologists and experts in Scandinavian linguistics consider the runestone to be a hoax. The runestone has been analyzed and dismissed repeatedly without local effect. The community of Kensington is solidly behind the runestone, which has transcended its original cultural purposes and has "taken on a life of its own".--Wikipedia, Nov. 2011

"An excellent pedagogy for critical thinking! In 1898, a farmer in northwestern Minnesota unearthed a large stone engraved with what appeared to be Norse runes carved in 1362. Could medieval Scandinavians have penetrated deep into mainland North America over a century before Columbus discovered the New World? Does the stone provide evidence that forces a rewrite of American history, or was it merely a well-executed hoax? In the absence of written records documenting a Norse expedition into Minnesota, most historians have dismissed what became known as the Kensington Runestone as a hoax. However, Kehoe approaches the question holistically. She examines not only historical and literary evidence, but brings in data from archaeology, geology, linguistics, and biological anthropology. She concludes that the stone's authenticity should not be dismissed as readily as it has been so far, even if that means rethinking deeply ingrained ideas about contact between Europeans! and indigenous Americans."--Amazon.com book description

Includes bibliographical references (pages 91-99) and index

1. Farmer Ohman's find -- 2. The controversy -- 3. What can archaeology show? -- 4. The hard data : geology -- 5. Linguistics : recognizing medieval dialect variation -- 6. Biology : tuberculosis? : blond Mandans? : red-haired giants? -- 7. The Norse -- 8. On the American side -- 9. The significance of the Kensington Runestone

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